You would think I would be really disconnected too. All my grandparents but one were dead before I was born. My father was a dead beat dad and left when I was in the 2nd grade. So no real family connection except on my mothers side with her siblings and my cousins. Like you, love learning history. So one day got curious. Went down a rabbit hole and ...WHAM! started finding out all kinds of information from people. I got real lucky because a couple cousins, one on each side of my family, had already done some research. It really helped.